On December 10, 1990 the Oceanside Police Department responded to numerous calls of shots fired at the Wally Johnson Motel in Oceanside, California. Upon arrival they found victim, Tasha Santiago, a known prostitute, lying dead in the driveway. Shattered glass from the nearby phone booth was found. Through various eyewitnesses whom were patrons at the motel, a few moments prior they ran out of their rooms to find Tasha dead in the driveway. They did so after hearing a few gunshots along with glass shattering, which alarmed them. Patrons had exact stories of seeing a car with two men inside speed away from the scene of the crime; leaving behind the murder weapon, a handgun. The police also got the same license plate number, of the killer's car, from each patron and went to investigate, as crime scene investigators examined the scene. Picture below of the Coast Inn's sign. Picture from Google Images.
It turns out Tasha was inside the phone booth to call police; making them aware that she saw the two men from her attack the day prior, and to let them know to investigate. The operator, unfamiliar with Tasha's claim, put her on hold for one minute to check on her case. By the time she got back to Tasha, the phone went dead. It is believed that as Santiago made the phone call, the killers, driving by, saw her and pulled up to the phone booth to confront and ultimately kill her. Unknown to police at the time, as to the motive for murder. Picture below of side-by-side view of the motel when it operated as the Travelers Auto Court during the 1930's to a more recent picture of it as the Coast Inn. Picture courtesy of the Oceanside Historical Society
When police got a positive identification from the medical examiner, cops familiar with Tasha discovered she had an assault case on her from the day prior to the murder. Their strongest lead, police looked over the case; seeing that Santiago said she was "jumped" by two men in an alleyway. They stole her coat in the scuffle, but she escaped unscathed. Once police identified the owner of the getaway car, it was found that the driver, Jeffrey Todd Hammons and the passenger, Todd Alan Thornton met up with Tasha on December 9, 1990 for sex. Both drunk, Jeffrey paid eighteen dollars up front for oral sex from Santiago behind a dumpster, while Todd kept look out. When Hammons couldn't ejaculate he blamed Tasha, and an argument ensued. Jeffrey wanted his money back, but Santiago refused. Hammons called Thornton over to hold Tasha down as he beat her, but she managed to slide out of his grip leaving behind her jacket with the eighteen dollars most likely in her pants pocket. She went to police that night to file a report.
The tricky aspect of the case was that the killer and his accomplice were both U.S. Marines stationed at Camp Pendleton, so it was tough to get them tried in civilian court. By 1991 both men went to trial. The L.A. Times did two or three articles on the case; however once the trial came around, the articles ceased. It is unknown what the sentences were; however I did find profiles of a Jeffrey Todd Hammons and Todd Alan Thornton through mugshots.com (no pictures though) that I believe to be the same men involved in the crime, but I can't prove it. On the profiles it alludes to the fact that Jeffrey got life in prison, while Todd got only fifteen years; being released in the early 2000's. Jeffrey's profile shows he was admitted to California State Prison Solano on January 30, 1992.
NOTE: The Wally Jonson Motel mentioned in this article has been renamed Coast Inn. I also cannot find any: relatives, friends, or people who knew Tasha to request a comment or pictures. When reaching out to LGBT bars and nightclubs in San Diego to see if the owners or older patrons may have known Tasha, I was either ignored or told that they didn't know her.
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